Health Information And Related News

Category: First Aid

An automatic defibrillator is an advanced piece of medical equipment that many people don’t know is actually available to the general public. While it serves a different purpose than CPR, when properly used this tool can be an absolute life saver when a heart problem strikes. Sudden cardiac arrest is often fatal, and at that point every single minute that passes lowers a victim’s chance of surviving by at least 10%. Even at full speed from when the call is made, chances are it can take 10 minutes or more for an ambulance to arrive from a 9-1-1 call. This is where the automatic defibrillator comes in as a crucial tool.

Get A Quality Brand

One of the first things to do is look at buying from a respected name in the field. There are times going generic is just fine, but when you’re talking about life saving tools you want a company with a long positive track history like Texas AED (http://texasaed.com) who has been making these machines and improving them for decades.

Ideally you hope you never have to use a defibrillator but if you do, you want to be able to trust in it to work the moment you break it out. Going with an established and reputable provider is the best way to make sure you’re in good shape when emergencies strike.

Get Training To Use It

Learning to use an AED often is not a part of first aid certification, which is a shame because it should be. An AED can look intimidating at first but it is designed to be as easy to use as possible for the common lay person. After all, paramedics will arrive with their own equipment, so for an AED it only makes sense to make the directions as easy as possible since this is the first response to an emergency before the professionals show up to help.

Training is relatively easy to find, and chances are that local community organizations responsible for having EMTs on call or ambulance crews will already offer classes on how to use an automatic defibrillator or if not will be willing to step up and fill in that demand.

When To Use It Vs. When Not To

This comes back to the training side of things. There are times when to use an AED when there is an obvious heart “attack” going on, and there are times where that isn’t the appropriate treatment based on the condition of the patient. Knowing the right situations to break out the defibrillator and when to go with a different course of treatment prior to the paramedics showing up is crucial to helping give the patient the best odds of surviving.

In Conclusion

You may find that an automatic defibrillator seems a little bit intimidating at first, but just a little bit of training makes you realize how well built these life saving devices are and how easy they actually are to use. Don’t take the chance of needing one and not having it, get yours today for a safer home or work environment.